Launch or Pivot Your Business with Libraries as Launchpads! New Mexico - July 20, 2020 - Registration for a business support program is now open to applicants across Northern and Central New Mexico. People ready to test a business idea and small business owners finding new solutions while adapting to economic challenges are encouraged to apply. Creative Startups renowned pre-accelerator program --- Libraries as Launchpads, has moved fully online and been redesigned to address the current challenges businesses face. The program, with no cost to participants thanks to grants from the New Mexico Economic Development Department Outdoor Rec Division, the Economic Development Administration, PNM, and NMGas, equips aspiring and small business owners with the necessary skills to provide their customers what they are looking for and grow their businesses in any circumstances. “If you’ve got an idea, this program is a vehicle through which you can figure out if you’ve got a business.” said program participant Moira Gehring, founder of Boodle Body in Santa Fe. The intensive 4 week course provides the framework to understand: who your customers are and how to reach them, the products and services they really want, and your sales model, while building the knowledge and networks to take your business 1 or 10 steps forward! “This is an incredible program. The concepts I learned have, already in just weeks, improved the way I am running my business.” expressed a Libraries as Launch-
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pads alum. Libraries as Launchpads has supported the launch of 74 businesses across New Mexico since 2018 who have gone on to create over 20 new jobs and seen over $240k in new revenue. Of the businesses who went through the pilot program in 2019, 83.3% reported stronger business networks; 82.5% reported gaining more connection to the entrepreneur community. This program is available in both English and Spanish. (Spanish program begins early spring 2021.) Libraries as Launchpads is now available to participants with outdoor recreation, food/ag, and creative industry ideas and businesses in McKinley, Cibola, Harding, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Torrance, and Taos counties. Participants meet virtually twice weekly from September 14th through October 16th.
Registration is open now through August 21st at LibraresAsLaunchpads.org Whether you’re inventing a new part that will change mountain biking forever, adjusting how you operate your local restaurant and reach customers, or building the next hit app, Libraries as Launchpads is for you! Entrepreneurs with an idea they want to bring to life, a prototype they want to take to market, or a small business they want to pivot and grow are all invited to apply! For more information and to apply visit: http//:www.librariesaslaunchpads.org Questions? Contact Shuangyi Li, Shuangyi@creativestartups.org Joshua M. Whitman Experiential Learning Coordinator Octavia Fellin Public Library 505-863-1291 jwhitman@gallupnm.gov
